Future Lovers
by CertainlyUncertain
Summary: A little story based on the events of 2x03. Set in the near future when Present Simon is dating someone else, and Alisha is trying to deal with her jealousy. Rated T for swearing and other generally Misfits-y things.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I'm sure the show will deal with this in their own time, but in the meantime, this is just how I imagined Alisha would deal with the jealousy she feels about Present Simon having a girlfriend. **

**I have never been more obsessed with Misfits than I am right now. The show has also never been better!**

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Alisha thrust the grate on the old elevator open as she stormed into Simon's underground flat. Simon had been doing push-ups in the corner, but he gracefully leapt up as she entered and started moving towards her. But she was agitated and glared at him with such venom that he stopped short.

"What's wrong?"

"You! You've started dating that _stupid_ girl. And I'm mad, but I can't tell anyone why because as far as they know, why should I give a fuck who you're fucking?"

"I'm sorry about the girl." Simon moved closer to her, looping his arm around her waist. "If it helps, I never really had feelings for her. Not really. Nothing compared to the feelings I'll have for you."

"But it's worse than that." Alisha's voice had calmed, but she was clearly still upset. "It – It feels like you're cheating on me, and I want to be angry, but I don't know who I should be angry at. Then I decided to be angry with you, because you're the one who made me love you when you know that I would have to watch the other you fall into bed with someone else. But then I come down here and I forget that I'm angry and all I want to do is stay right here with you." Alisha sighed and looked up at Simon, "Basically, you've completely fucked me up."

Simon laughed and pulled Alisha into a hug.

"I know it's hard. But it'll all work out, I promise. It'll be fine." He leaned down to kiss her, and together they moved towards Simon's mattress on the floor.

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Alisha left early the next morning for her community service. Simon had one of his mysterious errands to run, and since she had gone snooping in his videos the last time he left her alone in his flat, he forced her to leave too. As she walked into the community centre, she tried to keep Future Simon's words in her head. She knew she was being unfair to Present Simon. It wasn't his fault that she had fallen in love with him first. She knew they would work out; she had the evidence of it in her bed most nights. Still, the thought of him with someone else made her stomach churn.

As soon as Alisha walked into the changing rooms, she knew for sure that there was something wrong. She heard the familiar sounds of effort associated with fairly rigorous sex. As she turned the corner around the lockers, she saw it: Present Simon had his girlfriend laid out on one of the changing room benches as he fucked her. Alisha thought she might be sick right there on the floor in front of them. She heard Simon's girlfriend gasp as she noticed Alisha standing in front of them. Simon immediately got up and began to zip himself back into his community service jumpsuit.

"Alisha..." he said in his extremely awkward way of speaking "You're early."

"Yeah." Alisha's voice was barely above a whisper as she tried to keep her emotions tightly under control. "I- uh- sorry. I'll… go."

She all but ran out of the change rooms. She could already feel the burning in her eyes as she desperately tried to get to the bathrooms before anyone else saw her. As soon as she bolted one of the stall doors shut, she allowed herself to succumb to the pain of what she had just witnessed. She cried as quietly as she could, but she knew that if anyone else was in the bathroom, it would be extremely obvious that she was crying in one of the stalls. As if on cue, she heard the door swing open. Alisha tried holding her breath to prevent being heard.

"Alisha?" The voice belonged to Simon of all people. "Are you in here?" From the voice alone, she couldn't tell if it was Present or Future Simon. In the hopes that it would be _her _Simon, she called back.

"Umm… yeah. I'm just- I'll be out in a second." She knew her voice was thick with tears and the evidence would be even more obvious on her face, but she had no choice now but to emerge. She tired her best to clear her eyes of tears and stepped out. Her heart sank. It wasn't Future Simon, but the present one, looking at her in confusion and concern.

"Are you ok? You seemed… upset." He watched her carefully as she moved towards the sinks. She tried her best to hide her eyes, but she was sure Simon had noticed how puffy and red they were.

"I'm fine. Just… tired." Her lie was pitiful and Simon was clearly unconvinced.

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm not." But even as she said it, Alisha felt a fresh wave of hurt overtake her as she looked into Simon's eyes. For the same person, they were still so different and there were times when she thought that waiting for him to become the man she loved was a process that might just destroy her. She felt more hot tears escape her.

"Alisha." Simon sounded almost alarmed at her display of emotion. Her moved to comfort her before remembering that she couldn't be touched. "Why are you so upset?"

"It's nothing" she spoke through gasping sobs. "Really, I'm ok. Just, leave me alone, yeah?" Still Simon stayed put, looking at her. Alisha wondered if maybe he already knew that she loved him. This idea upset her still further. "Simon, will you please fuck off!" With a look eerie similar to the one that her Simon gives her when he's indulging her, Simon turned and left.

With a sigh, Alisha slumped forward over the sink. She stayed there for a few more minutes until she looked presentable. She spent the rest of the day ignoring Simon more than she had in months. The only bright moment of her day was when Curtis spotted the 'masked man' as he leaped off the roof of the community centre. She allowed thoughts of the future she knew was waiting for her get her through the rest of her day.

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**AN: this probably wasn't my best piece of writing ever, but the scene was stuck in my head, so I decided to write it down. Let me know what you thought!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Well, I'm really enjoying writing for these two. I think this show in general in woefully underwritten, so I thought I'd keep going with it. Hope you enjoy! I find these characters quite hard to write for, so please let me know what you think!**

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Alisha had decided that her life would be a lot easier if she just avoided Present Simon entirely, at least until he broke up with his stupid bint of a girlfriend. Again, she knew she was being unfair, but she found herself incredibly angry at this Simon every time she saw them together. She couldn't for the life of her understand what he could possibly see in this other girl.

She was sitting up in Future Simon's bed when she voiced these thoughts to him. He climbed into bed with her and they sat in silence as Alisha waited for him to respond for what felt like an age. She got the sense that he was wrestling with how much he should give away about their future life.

"Well, I'd never really been given a better offer." He finally answered.

She had the impression there was more he wanted to say, but he had clearly thought better of it. Moments like this one only served to remind her how many secrets he was keeping from her on a daily basis. It was probably for the best though. She was sure she didn't want to know everything that he could tell her. She didn't want to know what all the clocks on the wall were constantly counting down to. And there were always those questions that she was terrified to ask: _how do I die? And when? Which of these clocks is mine?_ She was certain he wouldn't answer them even if she did ask, but even more importantly, she didn't think she wanted to know what the answers would be. Again she was confronted with a deep concern for the man who's bed she shared. Though she tried not to talk about it, she had been able to piece together enough to understand that they had been (or were going to be) in love, she had died (…or was going to die…), and that loss had been so terrible that Simon had decided to go back in time and stop it. The idea that anyone could love her that much both terrified and thrilled her. Not to mention the fact that it was _Simon_. She couldn't ever imagine how Present Simon would let her in when she'd spent the better part of their time together either ignoring him or being outright cruel. Suddenly she felt that Simon probably deserved much better than her; how could she ever give back the kind of love that Future Simon clearly had for her? The pressure was overwhelming.

Her mind was pulled from these thoughts as Simon gently turned her around to face him.

"Are you ok? You seem a little distracted." Alisha forced a smile.

"Yeah. I was just thinking about the Present you. You seem happy. Maybe I'm better off just leaving you alone. I mean, you don't want me."

"Don't give up on me just yet. There's still so much to come."

Alisha frowned.

"You know I hate it when you say crap like that. It doesn't actually tell me anything useful! You're so full of shit."

Simon laughed and kissed her forehead.

"Sorry. No more cryptic future-talk. I promise."

With a quick squeeze of Alisha's shoulder, Simon pulled himself out of bed and moved to dress into his usual outfit.

"Are you going out?" Alisha asked, as she too stepped out of bed.

Simon glanced at one of the clocks. It read 00:00:04:26…25…24…

"I won't be long. I just need to check on something."

"Wow," Alisha said with a small laugh. "That promise lasted about a minute!"

Simon smiled in apology. "If you must know," he said with as he moved towards her. "Nathan's died again. He tried to jump from the roof of the community centre to the lake. In fairness, he did actually make the jump, but he broke his back on the railing before he hit the water."

"Stupid prick." Alisha muttered. Simon nodded.

"Yeah well, he's now drowned. But he won't come back to life until he's on dry land. So I'm going to go get him."

"Huh… I didn't know his power worked like that."

"Yeah. It's like, he'll only come back to life once the knife or pole or whatever it was that killed him has been removed. So he's not in danger anymore."

"How long does it take us to figure that out?"

Simon didn't answer as he clipped the last buckle on his outfit and lifted his hood.

"Come on, I should go." With a small nudge in her lower back, Simon ushered Alisha into the elevator with him.

In all honesty, Alisha probably wouldn't have gone snooping again anyway. But she decided it wasn't worth kicking up a fuss. So she allowed herself to be pushed into the elevator. Simon followed in after her and gave her a quick kiss before pulling on his mask. When the pair of them exited into the open air, Simon took off at a run and Alisha watched as he approached the community centre and, without hesitating, vaulted the barrier and dove into the lake adjacent to it. Alisha kept watching, waiting to make sure that he emerged again. She wasn't disappointed; two minutes later he emerged, dragging a limp Nathan with him.

"What's going on?" Kelly had come up behind Alisha and watched with her as the 'Masked Man' lay Nathan out on the ground.

"Oi!" Kelly started running towards Future Simon. "What'd you think you're doing?"

"Kelly!" Alisha called as she ran after her. Luckily, the pair of them were far enough away that Future Simon had time to leap the fence that defined the boundary of the community centre and disappear among the nearby council flats before Kelly could catch up to him.

"What was all that about?" Kelly demanded to no one in particular. She was distracted, however, by the sound of Nathan gasping as he returned to life.

"Ohhh, what happened?"

"I think maybe you drowned. We just saw that masked guy pull you out of the lake."

"Oh yeah…" Nathan smiled as the memory returned to him. "So I made it all the way to the lake? Yes!"

Alisha rolled her eyes and walked inside the community centre. She then physically bumped into Simon. He immediately raised his hands to avoid touching her. They were lucky: no skin made contact. Alisha smiled at him before remembering that she had decided to ignore him. Then, deciding she didn't like that plan, she tried a completely different approach.

"Hey," she said. "How's it going?"

"Fine. Just… normal."

"Right. Yeah." Alisha sighed: it was pointless. This was not her Simon, and clearly they still had a long way to go. She was about to walk away when Simon spoke up.

"I've thought of a plan to trap the masked man."

"You- You've what?" The comment took Alisha so off-guard that she forgot she wasn't supposed to give a crap about the masked man. "Why? I mean… why don't we just leave him alone? He's clearly on our side. If he wants to keep saving our lives on a weekly basis, why don't we just let him?"

"Because," Simon looked genuinely surprised, as if the answer was perfectly obvious. Which, Alisha supposed, it was. "Because he knows everything about us. He knows _everything_. It's an unfair advantage for him to know all about us and us not even to know what he looks like. Don't worry, it's a really good plan. Once everyone's here we can get started."

"We-We're doing it today?"

"Yes. Why not?"

Alisha thought her heart might explode from the adrenaline that had just surged through her. She was very worried, but she tried to remain calm. After all, future Simon had already done everything that present Simon is doing now, right? So he would know it was a trap, wouldn't he?

Alisha tried to breath normally as Curtis joined them and the three of them went out to meet Kelly and Nathan so Simon could explain his plan.

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**AN: So, I developed a plan for the upcoming chapters. I'm pretty excited about it, but it might take me a little while to update, as I really should be working! It's the last week of term though, so I'll probably get more chances to write once break starts.**

**Your comments make my day!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Seriously, this is getting ridiculous. I can't stop writing. I have an essay due tomorrow about the types of social networks on which people are able to capitalize. If I could write 2,000 words about that as quickly as I can about Misfits, I'd be in great shape.**

**Anyway, enjoy! (The disclaimer always feels a bit ridiculous to say, but if anyone was wondering, I don't own Misfits.)**

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"That is just about the most retarded plan I think I've ever heard!" Nathan exclaimed after Simon had finished sharing his idea. "And this coming from the guy who just swan dove off the roof of the community centre!"

"I hate to say it," Curtis chimed in "but Nathan's got a point. This is completely fucked up."

"No, I really think it'll work." Simon insisted.

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Nathan said again.

"Really, Simon, I know you wanna find him and everything but this isn't going to work." Kelly added.

Alisha, for her part, was too horrified to speak. Everyone was right: it was a completely stupid plan. But, it might also work, which was the part that terrified her the most. Simon's plan was to put himself into mortal danger and wait for 'Superhoodie' to rescue him. His logic was that Superhoodie had clearly gone out of his way to rescue all of them from danger before, so he wasn't just going to let him die now. The obvious point was that if the plan didn't work, Simon could end up seriously hurt, or even dead. The larger problem was the absolutely crippling dilemma that Alisha was now stuck with: either Future Simon wouldn't turn up, or he would. Either way Simon was putting himself in danger, it was just a matter of which one. It also reminded her uncomfortably of the way that she had tricked Simon into saving her when they first met. The whole plan was doing her head in.

"You've been awfully quiet." Curtis turned to her.

"I-" Alisha had no idea how to play this one. Should she be aloof and uncaring? Should she try to stop Present Simon from going through with it? "I think you're all mental."

"It doesn't matter to me if you agree, I'm still going to do it. But I might need some help capturing him once he arrives." Simon replied.

"Doesn't anyone else see how fucked up this is?" Curtis argued "We're going to capture a guy against his will, and we're going to get him there because we're going to trick him into thinking your life needs saving? This is too fucked. I'm out."

And without another word Curtis turned and walked out the gates of the community centre. As she watched him go, the only thought she had was that she was glad he ended it with her before she ever needed to tell him about her relationship with Simon. Though whether a result of their finishing or not, he had becoming increasingly short tempered. But she decided that was a problem for another day.

"Hell, man, I'm in! You know I can't resist a plan that most likely gets us all dead."

"I'll come too." Kelly didn't seem pleased about the idea, but if Nathan was going then chances were Kelly would go too, if for no other reason than to keep an eye on the insane prick.

Suddenly all three of them were looking at Alisha. There was no doubt in her mind that she needed to go with them. But equally, she had no doubt that it was absolutely the last place she wanted to be.

"Fine, whatever! I'll come."

"Alriiight!" Nathan exclaimed. "Let's go get this masked bastard!"

So together the four of them took off in search of people who would be willing to beat up Simon. Alisha felt weak as they started walking into the back alleys. They walked right past the door to Future Simon's flat, and Alisha was possessed with a desire to dive into it: the only place she felt safe. But instead they kept going through the underbelly of the city until they spied a pair of hooded men carrying out a drug deal. Simon turned to the three of them.

"You three stay here, out of sight. Don't help me. I mean it; I don't want you to help me.

"Man, you're going to pick a fight with a drug dealer? Those people are crazy!" Nathan shouted in a whisper.

"I'll be fine. He'll come, I know he will."

And with that he turned and walked away from them. Alisha wanted to scream as she watched Simon walk away towards the drug dealer. The customer had just left, so she took a small comfort in the fact that there was only one guy. From the distance at which they hid, Alisha, Kelly and Nathan couldn't hear what Simon was saying, but they watched in silence as they spoke. After only about a minute of conversation, the drug dealer had hit Simon full in the face. Even from where they were hiding, Alisha could see Simon spitting blood. She watched as Simon stood back up, spoke a few more words, and was again hit down. This time, the drug dealer kicked Simon where he lay, not allowing him to stand back up.

If Alisha had been able to think clearly, she would have said this was the worst thing she had ever been made to witness. It continued like this for agonizing minutes until she couldn't stand to watch it. She didn't even realize she was trying to run towards him until she felt Kelly grab the back of her shirt. Failing being able to reach him, Alisha began to call out Simon's name. She had no idea in that moment which Simon she was calling for.

"What's gotten into ya?" Kelly said to Alisha as she tried to hold her back. "Not being funny, but you don't even like Simon!"

Just as Nathan suggested then that as there was no sign of Superhoodie, that maybe they should go intervene, Alisha took her moment and kicked back against Kelly. She broke her grip easily, and Alisha began racing towards where Simon was lying.

"Simon!" She was only vaguely aware that she was shouting.

In that moment, as she ran towards him, she realized just how much she couldn't stand to lose him. She knew he would be okay, he would have to be, but the thought that he might die made her feel something she wasn't sure she ever had before. She had time to think, for a split second as she ran, that this was what love felt like. As she approached the pair of them, Simon lying bleeding on the ground, and the drug dealer towering over him, she didn't even hesitate to throw out her hands and grab hold of the drug dealer's bare arm. Immediately she felt the effects of her power on him. She could feel his pulse beneath her hands, and she knew that her plan, such as it was, had worked. He forgot all about his victim lying sprawled on the ground, and began to focus his attention on Alisha. Her problem was that she hadn't really thought past this point. As the drug dealer began to overpower her, she was rescued by, of all people, Nathan, who managed to rugby tackle the man off her. Thrown off by his blackout during the effects of Alisha's power, and sensing that he was outnumbered, the drug dealer took off, with Nathan calling obscenities to his back.

Alisha rushed forward to Simon's side. He was conscious, but clearly hurt.

"I said this wouldn't work." Kelly pointed out.

"Yeah, but we got to intimidate a drug dealer, so I'd say all in all, a pretty good day."

"Shut up!" Alisha shouted. Simon had a gash on his forehead, there was blood trickling from his mouth, and Alisha suspected that his ribs might be at least bruised if not broken. "Come on, you need to go to hospital."

The relief she felt that he wasn't more seriously injured was so overwhelming, that she couldn't stop herself from gently stroking his cheek. As she did so, her power had no effect whatsoever on Simon. Somehow, Alisha had known that it wouldn't, but the remaining three of them were staring in utter shock.

"Well that's an interesting new development." Nathan commented.

"How are you doing that?" Kelly asked.

Alisha thought she knew how, but she decided not to say anything. She purposefully kept her thoughts from becoming too concrete; preventing Kelly from learning anything she didn't want her to know. Though she thought, with a sinking feeling, that Kelly might have heard her thoughts of love as she raced towards Simon moments before.

Simon, for his part, had remained silent, watching Alisha and her hand on his face. Alisha, suddenly self-conscious, let go of him.

"Come on Simon. We need to get you to the hospital."

Alisha, careful now to avoid his skin, helped lift him to his feet. And together all four of them, Kelly and Nathan carrying Simon between them, set off for the hospital.

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**AN: Thank you all for your amazing comments! Seriously, they're such a motivation! Feel free to keep them coming. xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I am obsessed with this story to an unhealthy extent! But, I think this will be the final chapter before the next episode on Thursday. I'm sorry I've been updating so quickly!**

**Enjoy!**

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Alisha spent the whole night in the hospital. It took them hours to finally see any kind of qualified physician, then several more hours while Simon waited for an available X-ray to check his ribs. Kelly and Nathan gave up and went home at about 2am. They tried to convince Alisha to come with them, promising that he was fine and that they'd come back tomorrow. But she refused. Instead she sat in the waiting room for Simon to emerge. Eventually he did, bandaged and bruised, but looking more or less whole.

"They said I could go home. Nothing's broken, but I need to come back next week for them to take out the stitches."

Alisha didn't say anything. Now they came down to it, after all this waiting, she couldn't think of anything to say to him.

"You didn't have to wait here all night." Simon pointed out.

Still Alisha didn't answer.

"Did anyone call Jessica?" Jessica! _Shit._ It hadn't occurred to anyone to call his girlfriend. In fact, Alisha had forgotten that he had a girlfriend in the first place.

"Umm… no. Sorry, we forgot."

"That's okay. It doesn't matter."

Simon had a look on his face that Alisha recognized well from Future Simon. It meant there was more he wanted to say but had decided not to. Alisha decided not to push the matter.

So the pair of them left in relative silence. When Simon suggested that he could walk home alone, Alisha flatly refused.

"Not in your state. I might need to protect you with my being-horny-is-a-great-distraction-power."

"But then who will protect you?" Simon asked.

When Alisha looked up at him, she found that his eyes were already on her. They looked at each other in a moment that reminded Alisha much more of the Simon she knew he was going to become. There was nothing awkward or uncomfortable about the Simon looking at her in that moment. They were sharing an understanding: _we both want to keep each other safe._ When Alisha finally broke eye contact, they continued on in silence again.

After a few more minutes of walking, Alisha spoke again.

"You know that was a really stupid plan. What if you had died? It was just… really stupid."

"I can't believe he didn't come." Simon sounded genuinely disappointed, maybe even hurt. As though he thought 'Superhoodie' didn't care that he was in danger.

"Maybe he knew it was a trap." Alisha suggested. "Maybe he knew you would be ok."

"Maybe." Simon agreed, but he sounded unconvinced.

They lapsed back into silence until they arrived at Simon's house. They both stopped on the street outside. Just as Alisha was going to wish him goodnight, Simon stopped her.

"Wait. Just…wait…"

He tentatively raised his right hand and carefully began moving it towards Alisha. His fingers stopped just short of her left cheek. Alisha was watching his fingers carefully, and when they paused, she moved forward into his hand. Simon gasped at the contact and for a split second, Alisha feared that her power was again working on him. Instead, she found that he had gasped in shock, as her power had utterly failed to affect him. Alisha smiled and brought her hand up to meet his.

"How is that… possible? I don't understand."

Alisha, whose smile had grown into a genuine grin, reveled in her next words: "You will."

With that, she stepped away from Simon's grasp, turned, and headed back the way they came.

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When Alisha arrived in Future Simon's underground flat, she was surprised to find that she was actually a little angry with him.

"Where the fuck were you then? Simon got really hurt! He could have died." Simon was watching her with a small smile on his face.

"But obviously he didn't. You must have known he wouldn't."

"Yeah, but –"

"Alisha." Simon interrupted as he moved towards her. "I didn't need to be saved by me. I needed to be saved by _you_. This was one of the most important days of my life, and that was thanks to you. You touched me for the first time today."

"It wasn't exactly the first time…"

"It wasn't for you," Simon persisted "but it was for me. You have no idea the effect today had on the rest of my life."

Simon cupped her left cheek with his hand, gently stroking her with his thumb.

"I think I understand why you like to touch my cheek so much now." Alisha said.

Simon laughed and pulled her in for a kiss.

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Alisha woke the next morning to find that Simon was already awake in bed, watching her sleep. She looked up into his face and smiled.

"I think I've figured out why we can touch each other." Alisha spoke softly, feeling that this moment needed to savoured.

"Oh?" Simon replied.

"It's love, isn't it? You could touch me before because you loved me. And I can touch Simon now because I love him. Is that it?"

Simon smiled and pulled her close to him.

"We never knew for sure." He replied. "But that was our theory, yes."

"But…"

Alisha hesitated. She knew what would have to happen next, but she couldn't face it. Simon didn't say anything while he allowed her to gather her thoughts. She thought he must already know what was to come.

"But now, I love Simon.

"Yes."

"So… I can't keep spending all my time with you, can I?"

Simon sighed, and squeezed Alisha even closer to him, as though he was afraid that if he let go, she might never return.

"No, you can't. In order for me to become the man you know today, you have to give your love to him, not to me. In case you were curious, Simon is breaking up with his girlfriend tomorrow morning."

"But then… what will you do? You'll be all alone again. I can't do that to you."

"But you can't be in a relationship with both of us. I've already had my time with you. It's Simon's turn."

Alisha remained silent for a while after that. They both understood how difficult this next step was going to be: Future Simon had made her fall in love, and now it was time for her to return the favour.

"I don't want to leave you." She whispered.

"But you aren't. Not really. There are so many great times to come for us. You'll see. And besides, I still have a lot of work to do. You'll see me around."

"It's not the same…"

"No, but Alisha, this isn't the end. It's the beginning."

Alisha knew he was right, but it wouldn't make the next step any easier. She curled into her lover, and kissed his chest. It was time for her to help Simon become this man.

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**Your reviews are such a drug! Please keep them coming! xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I really wanted to finish this before tonight's episode. Not sure if I'll keep going, so let me know if you think there's more story to be told. **

**By the way, I really can't thank you guys enough for your absolutely lovely comments! They means so much to me, and I'm so glad you enjoy the story.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

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The morning had come, and it was time for Alisha to go back to community service. But this time it felt different. This time, she and Future Simon had a shared understanding that she wouldn't be coming back. At least not for a while. She had been about to leave when she stopped at the gate to the elevator and turned back to face him.

"I don't want to leave you."

"Don't worry about me." Simon dismissed. "Present Simon will give you more than enough to be getting on with."

He smiled his cheeky smile, but Alisha wasn't fooled. She knew he would be lonely and she wanted more than anything not to be the cause of that. She was about to say as much, when Simon stepped forward in a flash and bundled her up in a tight hug.

"I'll miss you." He whispered in her ear.

The sentiment was short and sweet, but she didn't expect anything else from her Simon. He could convey a lot of sentiment with very few words. It was one of the many things Alisha loved about him. She held him tightly back, savouring being able to spend some of the last few moments with the only person she could be completely honest with. Finally, Simon let go. With a quick peck on her cheek, he opened the gate behind her and she obediently stepped into the elevator. As the lift began to move slowly upwards, Alisha just caught some of his last words to her.

"Besides, you'll see me around."

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When Alisha walked into the community centre change rooms, it was to find that Nathan and Kelly were already inside.

"…Well maybe she's got a Simon tattoo too!" she heard Nathan from around a row of lockers before turning the corner to greet them.

She just caught the tail end of their conversation before they promptly shut up upon seeing Alisha emerge from behind the lockers. It wasn't much of a reach to deduce they had been talking about her.

"Alright?" Kelly said in an attempt at nonchalance. Nathan, however, took a somewhat different approach.

"We need you to strip so we can check for a mysterious tattoo we think you might have."

"Fuck off." Alisha instantly replied.

She had heard all about their ridiculous run-in with a super-powered tattoo artist. She supposed that from their point of view, it might seem like some kind of fucked up storm-related shit was going on. In fairness, they were right. There was some seriously fucked up shit going on, but just not at all in the way they thought. She inwardly cursed herself for not being more careful the day before. She had known Simon wouldn't die, so why did she have to freak out so much? Though at the same time, if she hadn't freaked out, Simon might have died. So did that mean that the timeline had required her to be in love with him at that point for her to have saved him, so he could go back in time and make her love him? The whole time-travel thing gave her a headache, so she let it go. Instead, she turned to Kelly and Nathan, who were both looking at her expectantly.

"Look, I haven't been fucked with alright? I'm not under the influence of some bullshit power, so just let it go, yeah?"

With this, and her 'break-up' with Future Simon, this day was really not shaping up to be a very good one.

"How come you could touch Simon?" Kelly was clearly undeterred by Alisha's attitude.

"I don't know, alright? Just leave it!" She slammed her locker shut having fully changed into her jumpsuit, and left the locker rooms in a sour mood.

Once her day of community service was over, Alisha was desperate to leave. The one thing she had been looking forward to was seeing (Present) Simon. She was nervous about what he would think or say about their relationship, but even so, she was desperate to see him. When their community service had begun (they were sorting out sports equipment into two piles: functioning and non-functioning) Simon still hadn't arrived. When he did finally turn up, he apologized to Shaun for being late, claiming that he had trouble getting dressed that morning on account of the bruised ribs. Shaun had taken one look of Simon up and down, and told him to go home and sleep off the hang over. And so Simon had no choice but to leave. Alisha managed to make eye contact with him for a second, but as usual, his face was impossible to read.

Curtis had, of course, demanded to know what happened after he left the day before, especially after he had seen Simon's condition. Kelly and Nathan exchanged a few awkward glances and pointed stares at Alisha, but eventually they filled him in. When they got the point of Alisha freaking out about Simon getting hurt, Alisha was surprised to notice that both of them skated over the details of how upset she had been. They had no choice, however, but to tell Curtis the truth about Alisha's ability to touch Simon. It was a highly significant change to their established abilities, and it would have been completely unfair to withhold that from Curtis. Both of them, however, made sure to make it sound like an accident as a result of all the chaos, as opposed to something deliberate or significant on Alisha's part. Alisha, in turn, was shocked at the extent to which Kelly and Nathan had managed to make her part in the whole ordeal insignificant.

_Thanks._ Alisha thought pointedly, and from the look on Kelly's face, Alisha knew she'd got the message.

Still, while Curtis managed not to completely freak out about her ability to touch Simon, they did spend the whole rest of the day obsessing over two things: one, why Alisha was suddenly able to touch someone that they knew for sure she hadn't been able to touch in the past, and two, why Superhoodie hadn't showed up. Both topics of conversation made Alisha deeply uncomfortable for obvious reasons. The predominant theory about Alisha's power was that it might be wearing off. In order to test this theory, all three of them made Alisha go around touching anything that moved. As she knew it would be, her power was still in full force; everyone from Kelly to Shaun to the stray cat in the alley behind the community centre got insatiably horny for her at the slightest touch. Forced to abandon that theory, they decided that something must have changed with Simon and that they'd need to look into it once he returned.

So in the absence of any clues about Alisha's power, they moved on to trying to understand why Superhoodie hadn't arrived to save Simon. Alisha would have found the conversation funny if she hadn't been in such a foul mood. Their theories ranged from the completely ridiculous to the downright insulting, but none of them came even close to guessing the truth. So she suffered through the day in relative silence, preferring to tune out her friends entirely rather than participate in a conversation that would require her to lie prolifically At long last, Shaun came out of his office and told them to go home.

* * *

"What's up with you?" Curtis turned to her while they were alone in the change rooms together.

Alisha tried to remain casual, but as she and Curtis had spoken alone together very little since they broke up, she thought her behaviour must have been quite strange if it was enough to prompt him into talking to her.

"Nothing I'm fine. Just…" Alisha quickly conjured up a lie "I'm just freaked out about my power. I don't know what's going on with it." Alisha didn't enjoy lying, but she was good at it when she had to be. Increasingly, it was a skill that had been coming in handy, though the more she was forced to lie, the more she wished she wasn't so good at it.

Curtis nodded.

"Nothing else?"

"No, that's it. It just hasn't been a good day."

Again Curtis nodded. For a very brief moment he reached out and squeezed her shoulder over the fabric of her jumpsuit.

"We'll figure this out, yeah? I promise." He let go of her and moved to the door, but he stopped and turned back, clearly remembering something he wanted to say. "Also, I'm sorry we made you touch stuff today. I know you hate to use your power."

And with that he left, leaving Alisha feeling more guilty than she had since this whole thing started.

She dressed slowly after that, keen to avoid the others as they left. Eventually, she could find no excuse to hang around, so she left back for her own home. The desire to go see Future Simon was overwhelming, especially given how difficult the day had been, but she resisted the urge and turned the corner in the direction of her house. At which point, she spotted Simon, standing with his back straight against the exterior wall of the community centre. When he spotted Alisha, he stepped forward. He was wearing his usual shirt buttoned to the top and denim jacket. In a way, Alisha kind of liked that version of Simon's dress just as much as the style that Future Simon would develop; this one was familiar and comfortable.

"Hi." He said as she approached.

"Hi." She repeated.

"I broke up with Jennifer." He spoke slightly quicker than usual, suggesting to Alisha that he was nervous. She found that kind of endearing.

"Oh?" She knew her response was crap, but she didn't know what else she could say. "Ok."

Simon was looking at her in that way he had of really staring someone down without meaning to. His gaze was always intense, but the look on his face this time suggested something else. He seemed to be waiting for Alisha to say something. But now it came down to it, she was scared. She knew this was a pivotal moment in their future relationship, but she couldn't think what to say. When the silence began to grow, Simon appeared to give up.

"Anyway, I just thought you might want to know." With that, he turned and walked away. He had only gone two steps when Alisha remembered exactly what she wanted to say.

"Simon!" she called to him. He turned around expectantly. Alisha took a moment to compose her thoughts, and then she dove right in.

"Do you remember when you said you thought it was hard for beautiful girls?" Simon nodded. "Well, I think it's hard for you too. You don't deserve the way people have been treating you. You don't deserve the way _I_ treated you."

"It doesn't m-"

"No, it does matter!" Alisha cut him off. "Simon," she stepped towards him until they were within easy touching distance. "I think you're incredible. I think you're smart, and kind, and really, really brave. And you care for all of us. You're the heart of this whole group, and I think it must be hard to feel that no one notices. So, I just, wanted to say that I notice. And I think you're incredible."

She leaned up to him and gave him a chaste kiss. When she stepped back, she felt Simon take hold of her hand. As they began to walk slowly together, hand in hand, Alisha felt that at long last, her future could finally begin.

* * *

**AN: I struggled a bit with the very last sentence. I had about 3 or 4 different versions of the end. I still think this one is a bit cheesy, but I wanted to give a little bit of closure in case I decided not to continue with the story.**

**I hoped you liked it anyway! Reviews are absolutely my favourite thing in the world by the way. In case you were curious. xxx**


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